Pete Rose Denied, Lifetime Ban Upheld

Major League Baseball’s all-time hits leader will continue to be barred from the league.

Rob Manfred, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, has decided not to lift the permanent ban imposed on Pete Rose more than a quarter-century ago. Therefore the player with more hits than anyone else in the sport’s history will continue to be banned from the league and kept out of Baseball’s Hall of Fame.

“In short, Mr. Rose has not presented credible evidence of a reconfigured life either by an honest acceptance by him of his wrongdoing, so clearly established by the Dowd Report, or by a rigorous, self-aware, and sustained program of avoidance by him of all the circumstances that led to his permanent eligibility in 1989,” Manfred said in a statement.

“Absent such credible evidence, allowing him to work in the game presents an unacceptable risk of a future violation by him of Rule 21, and thus to the integrity of our sport.”

The 74-year-old Pete Rose met with the commissioner in late September to appeal the suspension for a third time, claiming he had learned his lesson.

“I’ve been suspended a long time, but I made the mistake, and I’m paying the consequences,” Rose told reporters in September. “If I’m ever given a second chance, I’ll be the happiest guy in the world. I’m an American. This is America, you get a second chance. … I won’t need a third chance.”

Mr. Rose was barred from the sport in 1989 after the MLB concluded that he had bet on baseball games while managing the Cincinnati Reds. At the time, he insisted he had not bet on the sport.

In the years that followed, he continued to deny betting on baseball, but in a 2004 autobiography, he finally admitted to doing just that. He also admitted to betting on the Reds but he insisted that he had never bet on his own team to lose. In June, ESPN uncovered records that suggested he had also been involved in gambling as a player. Manfred found it troubling that Rose initially denied that he continues to bet on baseball only to later admit it in an interview.

“During our meeting, Mr. Rose told me that he has continued to bet on horse racing, and on professional sports, including baseball,” Manfred said. “Those bets may have been permitted by law in the jurisdictions in which they were placed, but this fact does not mean that the bets would be permissible if made by a player or manager subject to Rule 21.”

Pete Rose will continue to be allowed to participate in ‘ceremonial activities’ as long as these pose no threat to the integrity of the game. The commissioner also added that it is not his part to determine Rose’s eligibility for the Hall of Fame.

Pete Rose’s major league career spanned 24 seasons and included 4,256 base hits, three World Series championships, three batting titles and 17 selections to the All-Star Game.